1. Field of the Invention
The present invention broadly concerns a blade sharpener useful for sharpening the blades of cutting implements, for example, lawn mower blades. More particularly, it is concerned with a blade sharpener which serves as a support for a blade and a guide for a blade sharpening device to move along a cutting edge of a blade.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of different devices are known for sharpening the blades of cutting implements. For example, sharpening stones and files are well known tools which are drawn across a cutting edge of a blade for sharpening. Other sharpening devices include grinding wheels which rotate and used by placing the edge of a cutting implement in engagement with the rotating wheel, and sharpeners typically used with knives or scissors wherein a body acts as a guide and whereby the cutting edge is drawn along a sharpening stone while generally held in a desired angular relationship by the guide.
However, some cutting blades are more robust and more difficult to sharpen. For example, the blades of rotary lawn mowers are designed to be larger and for heavy duty use. While these can be sharpened with conventional grinding wheels, these are often large and expensive machines not practical for use by those performing intermittent sharpening tasks. Moreover, typical grinding wheel sharpening apparatus do not appropriately support the blade and guide the relative movement of the sharpening apparatus along the blade. Thus, an improved blade sharpening apparatus, especially for larger blades such as those of rotary lawn mowers, is needed.